The Government Services Committee (GSC) has asked the City Clerk’s Office to investigate the feasibility of the Clerk’s Office assuming the management of the boards and commissions, make recommendations and to bring the matter to a Council workshop for discussion. The proposal does not include staffing the GSC. That duty would remain with the Council Office.

Background

Historically, the Council Office has overseen boards and commissions. Expiration of terms for all boards and commissions vary throughout the year. Therefore, recruitment is continuous and vacancies and appointments occur each month. Residents have the option to complete an online application but the rest of the process is entirely manual.

Analysis

The Clerk’s Office does have the capacity to take over the management of the boards and commissions, if a few changes were made to the process.

The first suggested change would be to consolidate the expiration of terms which would help make the current system more efficient. The City and the Council are continuously recruiting for candidates. Meetings are impacted each month because of the time it takes to make the appointments and swear in new members. Council is also required to schedule time each month to discuss appointments in executive session. The Clerk’s Office is recommending that all board and commission terms expire at the same time, such as December 31. For example, the terms of the Library Advisory Board would be changed as follows:

District

Member

Current Exp.

Suggested Exp.

Yucca

K. Aborne

4/31/2017

12/31/2017

Sahuaro

T. Collett

6/28/2017

12/31/2017

Teen (Mayoral)

S. Hadden

5/27/2017

12/31/2017

Ocotillo

J. Koory

4/13/2017

12/31/2017

Teen (At-Large)

Vacant

5/27/2017

12/31/2017

Barrel

G. Johnson

4/13/2018

12/31/2018

Mayoral

L. Lund

4/13/2018

12/31/2018

Cactus

T. Ndavu

4/13/2018

12/31/2018

Cholla

D. Kocur

4/13/2018

12/31/2018

If the recruitment was consolidated to once per year, the City would be able to focus it’s recruitment efforts to get the maximum number of applicants and make all appointments at one meeting. As illustrated in the table below, the majority of municipalities follow this model.

Of course, unexpected vacancies do occur throughout the year. Applications not selected for the annual appointments would be kept on file for a minimum of one year. If a vacancy occurred during the year, Council would have the option to make an appointment from the applications and/or conduct a special recruitment.

The second recommended change would be to automate the process. The vendor that provides the City’s agenda management software, AgendaQuick, is rolling out a new boards and commission module. It will provide the module to the City, free of charge, in exchange for the Clerk's Office helping to test the module. The test site will be up and running next month and the module's launch is currently scheduled for October.

Transition

If Council would like to proceed with the consolidation of the expiration of terms, the City Attorney has advised the Clerk’s Office that it would require Council action. All board and commission members and staff liaisons would be informed of the proposed changes.

As illustrated in the Library Advisory Board example above, using the example of December 31st, the terms that expire in 2017 would be extended through December 31, 2017. Terms expiring in 2018 would be extended through December 31, 2018 and the same would be done for 2019 and 2020 terms. The item would be brought back for Council to take the appropriate legislative action at its voting meeting on September 12, 2017.

If Council would like the City Clerk's Office to assume the management of boards and commissions, the Clerk's Office would work with Council Office management to make sure there was a seamless transition.